SIMON WATKINS: The only threat to Euro Disney is that other comic continental amusement park - the eurozone economy

At last the Disney version of business is out and, unlike its take on most serious stories, it is a work of sound realism.

The decision by Prince Alwaleed to back Walt Disney’s rescue of the struggling Euro Disney theme park business is a vote of confidence from a man who is not known for sentimental business judgments.

His confidence is well founded because at last the theme park business is being put on a footing that is sustainable. The story behind Euro Disney is one that reflects the wider trends in business during the 1990s and the early years of this century. In three words: too much debt.

Too much debt: The story behind Euro Disney is one that reflects the trends in business during the 1990s

Disneyland Paris is a hugely popular venue as pestered parents across Britain will attest. But what has weighed down the group for years has been the cost of servicing its debts.

In the good times that has been fine. In the bad times the debts loomed too large. The rescue, mainly being carried out by Walt Disney in America and now backed by Alwaleed, will wipe out about £475million in debt.

Shareholders have taken a beating as the stock has dropped, but at least they may be left holding shares in a company that makes profits. Acting to reduce the debts is a step that Walt Disney should have taken years ago.

The Euro Disney example has been mirrored across business in Britain and elsewhere in recent years of companies that borrowed heavily in the good times only to find the burden of borrowing too much to bear in the bad times.

The Euro Disney story is a parable for our times. But in true Disney fashion, and unlike the stories of many companies that built up too much debt in the boom years, it looks like a happy ending may just be in sight.

The only threat to Euro Disney (and to everyone else) is that other comic continental amusement park, the eurozone economy. Germany, it emerged last week, may be teetering on the brink of recession as its exports have hit the buffers.

Britain cannot afford too much schadenfreude at this turn of events, no matter how much the travails of Europe are of its own making thanks to the rigidities of the single currency.

The Chancellor warned that Germany’s slowdown was a major threat to Britain’s recovery and it is hard to see how a German – or wider European – recession will not deal a blow to growth in the UK.

It would also deal a serious blow to any efforts to cut our own national debt as any faltering in UK growth will cut the Treasury’s tax income.

Whoever is Chancellor of the Exchequer this time next year, I would wager a euro or two that he or she will be telling us that the national debt will take longer to cut than anyone had hoped.